Us in love
by erinv0725
Summary: Season 9 Caryl. Here's hoping that magic happens. Caryl work closely while Ezekiel tries.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so here is a little story I did based off of recent spoilers and our season 9 trailer. I am a hardcore Caryler guys, so if that's not your forte, don't read this. There will be 3-4 chapters to this story and feedback is always appreciated. The beginning of this she is with Ezekiel, don't worry it doesn't stay that way. This is my take on what I am hoping will happen on the show. I love Carol Peletier and Melissa McBride more than anything and I will always love this character that this amazing woman has brought to life. And just a warning, there will be smut :) These glorious characters do not belong to me, if they did storylines would be SO different. Enjoy my loves!

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Carol was always a light sleeper, but with the birds constantly chirping in the trees and the sounds of the camp coming to life outside of her tent, sleeping in would definately not be an option. She slowly began to open her eyes and rolled over to look at the man sleeping next to her. Ezekiel was gorgeous, he had a smoldering stare and a smile that brought his face to life just for her, his body was modeled and chiseled from a life that had started out as a zookeeper and had turned into a man that fought along side her. She, oddly, did not view Ezekiel as her equal, they were a couple, they were friends, they were lovers, but this man was not her soulmate. She felt guilt over this fact, he was head over heels in love with her and more often than not; after they would make love as Ezekiel was left sated and fell asleep her mind would drift to Daryl Dixon, her soulmate. Ezekiel was the polar opposite of Ed, he treated her good, said nice things, cooked for her, fought with her, worshiped her body into the wee hours of the morning but even through all these magnificent things she still felt that pull towards Daryl. When she first met Daryl he was so hot-headed, so immature; then he had turned into a man of honor, a man that could possibly one day be worthy of her; and now he was changing more, maturing, turning into someone that could learn to love and be loved. All of these changes were because of Carol.

Carol had to meet Daryl that morning to discuss plans and work on ways to further sustain their communities. He had distanced himself when he had found out about her and Ezekiel, he had take up residence at the Sanctuary. He came around often enough, everytime he came he spent time with her. They had been getting more and more back to their old selves but there was still a wall between them, even moreso with Ezekiel always lurking. Ezekiel and Daryl were not the best of friends, they would speak of nothing but small talk to one another and Ezekiel was usually coming around to invade their space when Carol and Daryl were alone, which was not often. Carol went to get out of bed, she tried to duck out from under Ezekiel's arm but as soon as she moved he embraced her tighter. "Where are you going so early?" he asked as he rested his chin on Carol's shoulder, his eyes still closed. "I promised Daryl I'd meet him to scout out the next place the communities will gather to search for edible vegetation and possibly a new farming site, the soil at the Hilltop seems to not be producing as quickly as our communities are growing...and plus, I can't sleep anyway. I need to get up and get going."

"Can't you stay?" he said as he turned her head towards him and took her mouth with his. "Breakfast in bed, a walk in the afternoon, maybe do something with Henry and then later we can come back here and take a nap" he continued trying to persuade her as he kissed slowly down her neck towards her collarbones. "You know how I am, I have to contribute, I haven't had a day off since I was staying in the cottage outside of the Kingdom, I wouldn't feel right and plus everything has turned around and is going so well. I want to keep it that way." Carol lifted his arm from around her, pulled back from him and kissed his hand. "I'll be back before you know it, we'll go see Henry this afternoon, don't you have training to do with Jerry this afternoon with a group, anyway?" Carol asked. Ezekiel rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Before he could even get out of bed Carol had already thrown on her button up shirt, cargoes, boots, and her knife and was ready to go. As she placed her hand on the tent's entrance to flip the cover back to depart Ezekiel spoke, "you look beautiful today, I love you". Carol gave him a small smile and rolled her eyes, "I'll see you tonight, have a good day" and was gone.

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Daryl opened the flap of the tent to find Carol already working. He had gotten up extra early today because he was so excited to be spending some time with her. She must have had the same idea because she was earlier than he was. She heard him open the tent flap and turned around and gave him one of her 100 watt smiles. His stomach filled with butterflies as she spoke, "morning, Pookie". He responded by walking over to her and lightly hitting her on the shoulder and responded "mornin'" in his rough southern drawl. "How'd you sleep?" she asked, "like we were back out on the road after the farm, not a damn wink. You?" and she simply responded "same".

He had walked to the other side of the table to begin working and went to reach for the pencil that was lying in the middle of the map at the same time as Carol. He did not remove his hand from her's when they connected. They both seemed to be in a sort of a trance. Both raised their eyes at the same time and when their eyes met Carol was met with a Daryl she had never seen before. His eyes were filled with something she could not quite place, was it longing, pain, sadness, lust? She had never been able to not read him. He slowly began stroking her hand with his thumb in small circles and Carol's breath hitched. She looked down at their hands and then back to him, he had no idea where his boldness came from but he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it slowly. He turned her hand over where her wrist was facing upwards and kissed the pulsepoint of her wrist. "You ever think about when we were on the road, how we spent time together, we were inseperable...I think about it all the time". Carol was speechless, where had this Daryl come from? Was he making a move on her? Now? She was rendered speechless and the moment was fleeting, Daryl placed her hand back on the table, grabbed the pencil and said "alright, let's get to work".

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They had been in the tent what felt like hours, neither one had spoken much after the pencil incident. One of the newer resident's they had found when they had gone to Washington, Peter, comes into the tent to confront Daryl about taking his gun. "Dixon, where the fuck did you put my gun? I know it was you. You are the one that keeps telling everybody I can't be trusted, now where did you stash it?" Peter walks around the table and begins getting in Daryl's face. Before Daryl can respond all of a sudden a chipper Ezekiel appears. Ezekiel comes barrelling in the tent with flowers. He grabs Carol around the waist, swinging her, picking her up off the floor and lays a big wet kiss on her in front of Daryl, Peter, and Jerry. Ezekiel keeps their lips locked for a solid 30 seconds before coming up for air "had to come see how my girl's day was going, I missed you. I brought you these. I picked them out from the new garden. It's getting to be so beautiful over there. Maybe we can go on a walk later tonight?" Carol is holding the flowers in her hand, jaw agape, looking between Jerry, Ezekiel, and Daryl. Daryl is staring at Ezekiel like he wants to kill him. "Hi Daryl, hope you are getting enough time in with my girl doing all this work. I want her to myself later." Ezekiel walks around the edge of the table to see what they have completed and smacks Daryl on the back "wow, this design looks really promising man, awesome work". Daryl looks across the table to Carol and tells Ezekiel that it was all Carol's design he was simply looking it over. "That's my girl" Ezekiel replies and Carol looks over to Daryl and he is looking at her with so much hurt in his face that she can't breathe. She doesn't know what to do, what to say. All of a sudden Peter chimes in, they had forgotten he was there "damn Dixon, I thought she was your girl. Didn't know she belongs to the King" and Daryl got up in Peter's face, "she don't belong to no one, she's her own damn person". Carol finally snaps out of it and walks in between Daryl and Peter, "ok boys, let's stop this. We've got work to finish, we'll be done shortly. If you all could give us just another couple of minutes we will be done for the night". Carol looks helplessly to Daryl and she feels tears coming to the surface. The pain in his face just keeps increasing the more time all these men continue to stay in this tent where they had created their safe space. Ezekiel leans in for another kiss as he leaves, slapping Daryl on the back as he exits "thanks for taking care of my girl today Daryl, see you later baby". Jerry and Ezekiel leave the tent while Peter continues just standing there.

"Can you take a hint dude, wait for me outside" Daryl says to Peter.

"I'm not going anywhere till you give me my damn gun back, Dixon"

"WAIT FOR ME OUTSIDE!" Daryl screams at Peter. Carol whips her head around, she had not heard that tone from him since he was looking for Merle at the quarry and was pissed at Rick and co.

"I'll be out there, I'm giving you 10 minutes dude, that's it and then I'm coming back in here, I'm not gonna be able to defend myself" and with that Peter stalked outside of the tent.

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Dead silence has fallen between them, neither one knowing what to say.

Carol clears her throat and continues to act like she is working, he knows better. Knows she is not doing anything and knows her brain is not on anything that has to do with vegetation.

"What the hell was that?" Daryl asks

Carol does not answer, just simply looks at him with tears in her eyes. "Does he do shit like that just to get a rise out of me? What the hell was that?" waiting on Carol to say something, anything.

"He was just being Ezekiel, showing his love with a grand display of affection" Carol begins packing up her supplies.

"Showing his love Carol, that's what we are calling what you have with him? It's love?" Carol is speechless again, she begins crying, "maybe, maybe it is Daryl. I have to go."

Daryl goes to her side of the table, "I don't want you to go, this discussion isn't over. Do you love him?" Carol looks up at him, he grabs her arm to pull her back, "dammit Carol, do you love him?" She sees the pain in his face, either way someone gets hurt. She's dying inside. "I have love for him, I'm not in love". He begins pacing, "I can't do this anymore, I can't watch him kiss you, I can't be around you knowing that you are sleeping in his bed at night, I can't do this"

"Why do you care about all that Daryl, you let me know my place with you a long time ago. You have no right to do this to me, NOW!" Carol began throwing her supplies back in her bag.

"You know I care, I've always cared. You're my best friend and it kills me to see you not being the Carol that I know"

She's not paying him any attention now, she lost him at "friend". She's packing up, she's furious, she's late for her evening with Ezekiel, she didn't get her plans done like she wanted, now she's fighting with Daryl, could this day get any worse or more confusing. She wants to run away again. She slings her bag over her shoulder and goes to leave but Daryl isn't having it. He pulls her back towards him, he rips the bag off of her arm and he pushes her against the table they had been working at. He puts one hand on her neck and the other hand goes to her hip. She gets more angry, she lifts her arm grabbing his hand from her neck, "don't touch me" and goes to pull away from him. His hold on her hip tightens as he places the other hand alongside her face, "look at me, Carol" and when their eyes meet she is enraged even more than before. She brings both of her arms up this time and pushes at his chest with both of her hands full force, it knocks him back a breath. His eyes darken when she does this and she goes to walk away again, this time he grabs her wrist, spins her back against his chest. They are both breathing heavily, her back against his chest with her arm locked behind her back. He moves his other hand up to cup her neck and turn her head towards him. "Look at me!" she is still pissed but she allows him to turn her head towards him, their eyes meet and his thumb begins caressing her cheek as the tears begin to fall down her face. She begins calming as he brings her back to connect with his chest. She can feel his heartbeat, it is soothing, bringing her peace. He is wiping her tears with his thumb and she looks up at him. He's never been able to resist her and those eyes. When their eyes connect in this moment, the anger she was feeling has submerged for now. He leans in, both of their hearts speeding up, he places a chaste kiss to her cheek to catch a tear as it falls. He begins kissing away all the tears that fall down her face and then he takes a chance. He places his heart and soul on the line and catches her lips with his. The moment their lips meet in their first kiss it is the culmination of years of unbridled passion, sexual tension, fear, anger, happiness, euphoria, ecstasy, sadness. Everything they have ever felt in their soul is poured into this kiss, creating explosions, a fusing of souls. They are soulmates, they have always been. The kiss intensifies, he lowers his hand to gently caress her neck while his other hand pulls her hip to bring her body closer to his. He craves her, to be close to her; as close as two people can be. He pushes her mouth open, seeking admittance to her tongue, he wants to taste her. As she slowly opens her mouth to grant him access their tongues begin fighting for dominance. His wins, he worships her mouth with his tongue, brushing across every surface inside and out. She begins to roll her hips and push her ass back into him, against him. He moans into her mouth as they begin creating a fire together that if they keep going will not be able to be put out. He continues his assault on her mouth and he begins kissing her neck, down towards her collarbones, she is still grinding against him as she lifts her arm up to wrap her arm around his neck to ground his head to where he wouldn't be able to stop kissing her neck.

"God, you are all I have ever wanted, I want you, sweetheart", when Daryl says this it brings Carol back to the present. Her anger comes flooding to the surface again at his words. "You want me now Daryl, now that I'm with someone else. How dare you! You have owned my heart for years, why now? Because now you want what you can't have?" She has stopped kissing him, brought their heads together and whispered this to him. All of a sudden that hand that was gently teasing and pulling his hair tightens and twists his hair to bring his ear down to her mouth, "you said it yourself, I don't belong to anyone." Carol jerked his head back and pushes away from him.  
She walks towards the side of the tent, not staring at him but staring at blankness. He gives her one last look at the back of her head as he storms out and sees Peter with a smirk on his face. He had heard the whole entire thing. He lunges towards Peter and begins punching him, over and over. Taking out his frustration, his anger, his loss on this man. Carol is wiping the tears from her eyes, composing herself to go back to their tent and face Ezekiel when she hears the commotion outside. She lifts the flap of the tent to find Daryl in a brawl with Peter. Daryl continues to pummel Peter as she exits the tent screaming at Daryl, "Daryl, stop it!"

...to be continued 


	2. Chapter 2

Daryl continues punching Peter's face, over and over. Daryl jerks him up off the ground, pushes him into the trunk of the tree that is nearest the tent he just came out of, uses the tree to support him as Daryl continues to use Peter as a punching bag. He knows that he is taking out his anger on this man, that he doesn't deserve this ass kicking that he is currently giving him, but if this is the only way for Daryl to get some sort of relief, he is going to take it. He hears Carol's voice telling him to stop it, trying to get his attention. The sound of his name coming from her lips is more than he can bear. He knows she is pissed at him but she still cares, they will always care about each other. A million thoughts and images are rushing through his mind when all of a sudden he feels strong arms pull him backwards and away from his victim. He finally realizes the damage he has done, Peter's face is swollen, almost unrecognizable, blood running from his face and bruises are already beginning to form. He looks to his right to see Ezekiel holding his arm and to his left is Rick, it had taken both men to pull him off of Peter. He jerks away from Ezekiel's grasp and walks off with Rick, Daryl is pacing as Rick tries to calm him, "what happened here Daryl? You almost killed him, if you would've kept going he would have been unconcious, if not worse. Carol was screaming your name for the longest time, it's not like you to completely ignore her, what's gotten into you?" Rick was going on and on, Daryl's focus was still on Carol a couple of feet away. She was looking at him with concern and anger. As he was staring at Carol, Ezekiel walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms. Their connection was broken as Carol turned to look at Ezekiel and give him a small smile, Daryl could've sworn he saw her say the words "thank you for that" to Ezekiel. Rick had witnessed this whole exchange and all of a sudden everything clicked into focus. "Daryl, you had your chance with her, I honestly thought y'all were inseperable and maybe one day you stubborn asses would realize what the rest of us have known all along. You guys are meant for each other, you waited too long man. Did you expect a woman like Carol to wait on you forever?" Rick was rambling and Daryl was getting restless. He had to get away, without a word to Rick he let out a huff and stomped off, he passed Rick, then Ezekiel. When he got to Carol he stopped in front of her, cupped her face with his right hand and stared at her, he stared at her with the most pain she had ever seen in his eyes. Carol knew she was the reason he was in pain, she didn't know what to do except to stare right back. So much between them does not need words, this instance was no different. All of a sudden he shook his head, dropped his palm from her face, glanced back at Ezekiel and Rick and then he fled, he began running and didn't look back.

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Daryl opened his eyes into complete darkness. It had to be the middle of the night, he did not remember coming home from his spontaneous hunting trip, he did not remember falling asleep, and he surely did not remember how Carol had ended up in bed next to him. He saw the moon reflecting off of her silver hair, she looked so peaceful as she slept. They had been so upset with each other, how in the world did she end up next to him? He tried to move without waking her but as soon as he did the slightest twist of his abdomen to rise from the bed he looked over at her to make sure she was still asleep and she was staring at him. "Hey you" she cooed while stretching her arms above her head. Daryl replied "hey, what you doing here? I don't remember a thing from last night, last thing I remember is storming off after Shakespeare McGee felt like he needed to interject my fight with a damn monologue"

Carol simply looked at him, she sat up and for the first time Daryl realized she had nothing on under the sheet. She let the sheet drop the slightest bit to give him an inclination as to what was not under it. He could see the curve of her breast and she began to speak, "Daryl, you know good and well why I'm here. I'm here to be with you. I'm here to love you, don't you know that? I love you, I love you, baby. Do you know that I've always loved you?" She dropped the sheet, exposing her breasts to him. Daryl couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. All he could do was stare from her chest to her eyes to her lips, back to her chest. His jaw had hit the floor, he couldn't move; Daryl had zero game. "Don't you want to do that for me? Why'd you give up Daryl? Why didn't you fight for me? Do you want to be with me? Do you want me to be with him? What do you want Daryl? Fight for me. Fight for us. It's always been us, Daryl. What do you want? WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"

Daryl woke up abruptly from his dream in a cold sweat. What the hell? He had returned from hunting around midnight, everyone was asleep. He had heard someone moving around and as he passed their tent to go to his own he saw Ezekiel going back inside his and Carol's tent. Ezekiel met Daryl's stare and the two men sized each other up, the feeling Daryl had as Ezekiel ducked back into the tent and zipped it from the inside finally snapped everything into focus. He had never fought for Carol, he had protected her, provided for her, but he had never been a man of honor for her in the way she deserved. It was still early, he had to come up with a plan, he had to try.

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The camp was bustling as the sun had come up. You could feel the tension in the air, not only amongst some members of the group but also he could feel the tension between himself and Carol. He had to fix this, but how? She caught him staring at her all throughout the morning, every time she would turn to look at him he would look away. Where did she go wrong? Where had she misred the signals? They both continued to keep themselves busy well into the afternoon. She sensed his presence before she saw his shadow come over her. She looked up and the sun provided a halo around the silhouette of his long and tangled hair. He reached his hand down to her and she took it, helping her off the ground. "Can we talk?" he asked, and she simply nodded. Carol was brushing the dirt off of her pants as they began to walk away, Daryl was nervously biting his nails. Before either one of them was aware of what was happening Peter had grabbed Carol and had brought a knife to her neck. Daryl saw the fear in Carol's face, his heartbeat beating out of control, the nerve of this fucker. "You never came to find me yesterday Dixon, you never gave me my gun back. I don't get my gun back, you don't get your girl back. That's the deal, it's not gonna be any other way."

"Your gun is in my tent man, I don't give a shit about that. Go take it, it's yours. Let Carol go, let her go now!" Daryl began eyeing him and inching closer.

"Why did you lie to me, Dixon? You told me you'd come find me yesterday, next thing I know somebody is telling me you took off into the woods."

"I did not mean to lie, I forgot, I was upset. I've had a lot going on lately. We can end this easily, let her go! NOW"

Peter got distracted by a sound in the woods, Daryl took the opportunity and lunged towards him. He pushed Carol away and was putting all of his weight on Peter, Carol went running and returned with some rope. They soon had Peter's wrists tied together and Daryl jerked him up by his arms. He was kicking at his heels to get him to walk faster. He took him to the infirmary tent and told them to "watch him, don't let him move, he doesn't go anywhere until I get back. He put a knife to Carol's throat. I mean it, nowhere until I get back."

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They had walked down to the river, "you alright?" he asked as he moved closer to her to get a better look.

"I'm fine, thank you" she responded as she lit a cigarette.

"You're talking to me ya know, ya don't gotta lie to me" he began pushing around dirt with the toe of his boot. He kept looking at her, she was beautiful, she was not invincible.

"What did you want?" she asked him. She kept smoking her cigarette and she finally turned to look at him. He saw the tears in her eyes, this woman was full of strength and 0 bullshit.

"Give me a chance?" she was staring at him, it was almost like she was rendered speechless. He's doing this now?

"Daryl, I don't have time for this. Give you a chance for what?"

"You almost died back there, I couldn't ever lose you, I'd die! I want to be with you, I want us to be together. I love you, Carol"

The breath was knocked right out of her. She had to lean over to brace herself against her knees, she began sobbing and she collapsed. He ran to her, he sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, he was rocking her, soothing her with his words, all of a sudden she realized her position and she flipped. She angrily began wiping at the tears on her face and she pushed him away from her.

"Daryl, you want us together as what, besties, fighters, partners, lovers? I've waited to hear you tell me you love me for years, it has to take another man wanting me to get you to confess? You've had my heart since the day you tried to save my little girl. I waited and waited for the right time and it seemed to never be the right time, for YOU!"

Daryl was crying now, was reaching out for her.

"You saved me from Peter, we've saved each other a million times. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. You can't worry about me anymore, Daryl. I'm going to marry Ezekiel, that's what is best. It's the next logical step, and we can actually teach Henry some semblance of what the world used to be, a normal family, a home...even love." She looked down as she voiced the last part, she couldn't meet his eyes. Now it was his turn for the wind to be knocked out of him, "you're doing what? You're going to marry that asshole?"

She stomped her cigarette out with her boot "it was a beautiful dream, Daryl. I'm sorry", as she went to walk away he ran after her, grabbed her arm turning her around to him and he kissed her. He kissed the life out of her. She was working against him, she was resisting him...and then he finally felt her go limp in his arms and she gave in, she was kissing him back, and then she moaned and he died a little death. She put her hands in his hair, running her fingers through his long strands and he locked his hands on her hips, grounding her body against his. In that moment all the past and the future was forgotten, this moment was a culmination of their love to each other. Her mouth opened to his prodding and a frantic mating began with their tongues. The electricity that they each felt from the other was like nothing either of these abused people had ever felt in their lives. They were lost in this moment until they heard Ezekiel frantically calling, "Carol, Carol, CAROL! Where are you?" 


End file.
